Electrical equipment, such as power transmission lines, insulators, surge arrestors, switchgear and transformers (e.g., operating at voltages in excess of 1 kV and particularly in excess of 10 kV, such voltages hereinafter being referred to as “high voltage”), often have parts thereof or parts associated therewith that are not insulated from the surrounding air. Thus, an exposed portion of such equipment can be at high voltage and be longitudinally separated from another portion at low voltage, for example at earth potential. The exposed high voltage portion may be physically supported by an insulator, for example when an overhead power line is mounted on an insulator that spaces it from a supporting tower that is itself at earth potential, or for example when a high voltage cable is terminated at a bushing or switchgear whose metal housing is at earth potential. In such instances outdoors, larger wildlife such as squirrels and birds with large wingspans may be big enough to form a direct bridge (i.e., an electrical short circuit) between the high voltage equipment and earth potential, with serious, usually fatal, consequences for themselves and often with serious consequences for the electrical equipment and the supply of electrical power—usually at least a fuse is actuated or a circuit breaker triggered such that the power supply is interrupted.
One known solution to the foregoing problem is to install a wildlife guard that may be referred to as a “squirrel guard”. Typically, a wildlife guard includes one or more parts forming a disk with an aperture. The wildlife guard is mounted on an insulator (e.g., between sheds) such that the disc extends radially outwardly from the insulator beyond the sheds. The wildlife guard substantially increases the distance from earth potential to the high voltage equipment so that wildlife are prevented from simultaneously making contact with each of, and thereby bridging, earth potential and the high voltage equipment. Another type of wildlife guard includes a pair of pivotally connected cover portions that, when closed, form a hollow body that enclose an insulator.